Welt insole



June l1; 1940. H.` G. LUMBARD WELT INSOLE Filed Augl 7, 1939 PatentedJune ll, 1940 UNIT-ED, STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to shoemaklng' and consists inimprovements ln flexible welt insoles and in a novel process ofproducing the same. My improved inso'le may be incorporated in a weltshoe of otherwise standard construction and greatly improves the shoe inrespect to flexibility and comfort in wear.

In my copending application, Ser. No. 240,987, led September 17, 1938,is disclosed an insole for McKay or Compo shoes characterized by throughand through slashes extending transversely from edge to edge oftheinsole, in some cases intersecting the edge of the insole, andcollectively adapting the insole to be stretched longitudinally thusincreasing its size and rendering it extremely flexible in use.

The present invention in one aspect consists in a welt insole having thesame broad charac teristics, that is to say, a welt insole having itsbody provided with through and through slashes of the characterdescribed and a lip or rib also slashed but including a continuousfabric ply or flange therein for receiving the inseam stitches. I havediscovered that this novel insole may be successfullyI produced byrstchanneling an insole blank, cementing the insole surface and turningthe lips by the conventional steps, and then slashing the insole thusprepared and applying a fabric reinforcement to the surface of theinsole and the lips thereoi. The slashing step as carried out inaccordance with my in vention, consists in cutting in the insoletransverse through and through slits which' extend yfrom edge to edgeand intersect both edges of Athe insole, being interrupted by shortunslitted` portions, but severing from time to time the lips raised in arib from the body of the insole, The reinforcement may take the form ofany suitable textile fabric,`such as gem duck or the like, and

dis applied intact to the slashed insole body presenting a continuousfabric ply for the inseam stitches.

The slashing'of the insole may be confined to the forpart or it mayinclude any other selected area. It imparts extreme flexibility to thesole,

not only because of its effect on the body of the sole, but because itsevers the upstanding lips which otherwise tend to act as stiffeningtrusses when they are supported by the iiller'and other elements of theshoe bottom.

The welt insoles of my invention may be pro- ,duced by the novel processwhich is characterized by passing the insole blank, in which the lipshave been turned up andI set, beneath or vpast a roll having slashingblades therein. In this step transverse rows of slashes are cut in thebody `of the insole and the insole lips are temporarily flattened andsevered wherever theI slashing blades happenfto encounter them, thusdividing them into a series of segments of un- 5 equal length. Thesetemporarily flattened seg- .ments may be easily restoredto their normalupright position and the reinforcing operation carried outin the usualmanner.

When the insole isembodied in a welt shoe some m of the inseam stitchesmay strike 'sl'ashes in the ins01e rib although muy more wm bass throughsolid portions of the rib and in all cases the stitches will passthrough ythe intact textile reinforcement of the insole. Thus adequateanw Fig. 1 is a View in perspective of an insole blank 2s which has beenchanneled and cemented,

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the insole blank with its lips turned up, Y

Fig'. 3 is a similar view of the insole after the slashing operation,

Fig. 44 is a similar view of the insole after it has been reinforced,and

li'ig. 5 is a cross sectional View on an' enlarged scale showing theinsole as embodied in the bottom of a welt shoe.

Aninsole blank of the desired thickness is first selected and rounded tosize and shape. lt is then 'channeled and cemented in the usual manneras lsuggested'in Fig. l. In the leather body l@ of l the insole areformed the inside channel cut it 4o and the outside channel cut l2,these cuts extending topward each other beneath the esh surface of theinsole. After the channeling operation a band of cement I3 is appliedtothe margin oi the insole outside the inner channel cut @Las The insolein this condition is shown in Fig. 1. The channel lips dened by the twochannel cuts are next progressively turned up and stuck togetherforming4 a continuous 1upstanding rib it which, as' shown in Fig. 2,extends from the 5o heel seat on one side forwardly about the blank andback to the heel seat on the other side of' the insole. This rib standssubstantially at right .angles to the plane of the insoleblank or if de-4lsired may be given a slight inward'inclination.

The steps so far described are conventional in welt shoemaking lbut atthis point a novel operaif tion is introduced,- viz., the ribbed insoleis subjected to a novel slashing operation. This may be confined to awide zone in the forepart vof the insole, as suggested in Fig. 3, or itmay extend into any selectedarea of the insole. It may be convenientlyeffected by passing the insole transversely between rolls one of whichis provided with segmental slashing knives designed to form uniformlyspaced lines or rows of interrupted through the insole material at theroot of the ribs.

In Ithis slashing operation the rib is temporarily flattened down uponthe body of the insole but after the slashing operation the rib segmentsmay be easily restored to their normal upright positio-n as shown inFig. 3.

The reinforcing operation is next carried ,out in the usual manner, thatis to say, an 7imslashed sheet lli of textile material such as duck orcanvas is cemented to the flesh surface of the insole inside its rib Iland the margin of the duck is turned up and cemented in a peripheralflange to the-inner surface of the insole rib thus forming a continuousreinforcement which is tucked into the inner angle or vertex of the riband trimmed substantially flush with thetop of the rib. -Since thistextile reinforcement is essentially flexible of itself, it does notsubstantially decrease the ilexibility of the insole as a whole but itdoes supply sufficient strength to the insole rib to provide firmanchorage for the inseam.

The welt insole thus provided and shown in Fig'. 4 may be incorporateddirectly in any welt shoe with great resulting flexibility or it may befirst combined with a cushion ply. In Fig. 5 I have suggested suchspecific employment of my novel insole but as already explained itsusels not in any manner so limited. In Fig. ,5, however, the slashed andreinforced insole is shown as continuously cemented in 4face to facecontact to a cushion ply l1 of cork or cork composition. The cushionlayer is trimmed flushA with the edges of the slashed portion of thecomposite insole and is .to be located next the foot of the lwearer in.the finished welt shoe. In Fig. 5 the welt i8 and upper I9 are shown assecured in lasted position to the insole rib bylstitohes 20 of theinseam all` of which results may be effected in accordance with theusual commercial steps of inseam sewing by hand or by a welt sewingmachine. It will be noted that the cross-sectional view of Fig. 5 isrepresented as if taken on the line of certain of the slits or slashesl5 and as showing three of the solid bridge portions of the insole body.The stitch 2@ of the inseam is shown at the left hand side of this gureas passing through a slit in the insole rib and at the right hand sideof this figure as passing through a solid portion of the insole rib, thereinforcing ply it being intact in both cases.

After the inseaming operation the inseam may be trimmed, the bottomfilled, and the outsole attached, all in the usual manner followed inmanufacturing welt shoes.

It will be understood that the slashed insole is subjected to tension inthe lasting operation and, although the reinforcing fabric i6 issubstantially inextensible, this tension tends to open the slashes inthe leather portion of the composite insole and thus provide spacedinternal edges that may move freely relatively to each other when the`shoe bottom as a wholel is flexed.

Having thus disclosed my invention I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

l. An insole which comprises a body portion and an upturned sewing rib,the insole having a plurality of rows of staggered short spacedthrough-and-through slashes forming free open spaces at intervals in thebody of the insole, the rows extending entirely across the insole, someof the slashes intersecting the edges thereof and some of the slashessevering not only the rib but also the entire thickness of the bodyportion at the root of the rib, and an unslashed fabric reinforcingsheet cemented to the surface of the insole within the rib'and along itsinner surface.

2. An insole for a welt shoe which comprises a body portion having'up-turned lips and `provided with a plurality of rows of short, spaced,staggered, through-and-through slashes having freely movable edgesl andextending'transversely across the entire body of the'sole andintersecting the edges of the sole, some of the slashes severing thelips and the material below the lips, and a fabric reinforcing sheetdisposed on the surface of the insole inside the lips. f

3. A welt insole comprising Ta body portion, a sewing rib integral withsaid body portion, the ball yportion of the body and rib being providedwith staggered rows of short, through-andthrough slashes some of whichsever the'edges of the body portion andthe ribs, each row of slashesextending entirely across the body portion and a fabric reinforcingsheet disposed in face to face contact with the body portion and theinside of the rib within the' area defined by the sewing rib.

HENRY G.` LUMBARD.

